The present invention relates generally to communications and computer networks. More specifically, alerting users to dynamic content accessible via a communications or computer network that is of interest at the time of the alert is disclosed.
The use of the Internet, and in particular the World Wide Web, and other communication and computer networks has grown dramatically in recent years. The emergence of technologies for broader bandwidth communications, better compression technology, and new and less expensive digital recording and imaging technology, have all contributed to explosive growth in the volume and diversity of content available via communication and/or computer networks, such as the World Wide Web.
However, this proliferation of content, such as audio, image, and video content, presents certain challenges from the perspective of users seeking content of current interest. First, the shear volume of content available makes it difficult for users to find the content in which they are most interested in accessing at any given time. Apart from having to sort through the enormous volume of content available, much of the content of potentially greatest interest, at least to many users, is dynamic. At certain times, a file or other electronic resource may be of great interest while at other times, or perhaps even most of the time, it is not of great interest or not interesting at all.
For example, thousands of and perhaps in excess of a hundred thousand web cameras, or xe2x80x9cwebcamsxe2x80x9d, are in use. Webcams are cameras used to provide images of a target of interest via a site on the World Wide Web. Images are updated in varying manners and at varying intervals, depending on the site. A webcam might be used, for example, to provide images of a watering hole in Africa. Typically, users would access a website associated with the webcam to view activity at the watering hole. However, there would be many periods during which nothing of particular interest (e.g., no animals, etc.) would be happening at the watering hole. Conversely, there would be occasional periods when activity of great interest would be occurring, such as the presence of a rare or endangered animal at the watering hole. Users would have no way of knowing when such activity would be occurring, and might miss the most interesting images if they did not happen to check the website at the right time. The same problems arise with respect to files or other electronic resources other than webcam content provided via the World Wide Web, including other media such as audio.
As a result, there is a need for a way to alert users to web content or other electronic resources available via a communications or computer network that are of interest at a particular time. To meet this latter need, there is a need to provide a way to become aware that dynamic web content or an electronic resource other than web content is of interest at a given time, and to quantify the degree or level of current interest. In addition, there is a need to consider the interests of a user when determining which web content or other electronic resources likely will be of the greatest interest to the user.
There is also a need to ensure that interested users receive alerts with respect to web content or other electronic resources that are of interest only to a relatively small community of users, or that are of interest on only relatively rare or infrequent occasions. There is a risk, otherwise, that indications of current interest regarding such files and other electronic resources would be masked by more voluminous or frequent activity with respect to more widely popular or pervasive resources or types of resources (such as pornography sites on the World Wide Web).
Accordingly, alerting users of items of current interest is disclosed. The level of current interest of a particular file or other electronic resource is determined based on indications received from alerting users. One or more users receive an alert that the item is of current interest. Normalization of the level of current interest of a file or other resource, such as to adjust for items of current interest to a small community or for items of current interest only infrequently, also is described.
It should be appreciated that the present invention can be implemented in numerous ways, including as a process, an apparatus, a system, a device, a method, or a computer readable medium such as a computer readable storage medium or a computer network wherein program instructions are sent over optical or electronic communication links. Several inventive embodiments of the present invention are described below.
Disseminating to a participant an indication that an item accessible by the participant via a network is of current interest is disclosed. In one embodiment, an indication that the item is of current interest is received in real time. The indication is processed. The participant is informed that the item is of current interest.
In one embodiment, a computer is configured to receive in real time an indication that an item is of current interest; process the indication; and inform a participant that the item is of current interest. A database, associated with the computer, is configured to store data relating to the item.
In one embodiment, a computer program product for disseminating to a participant an indication that an item accessible by the participant via a network is of current interest comprises computer instructions for receiving in real time an indication that the item is of current interest; processing the indication; and informing the participant that the item is of current interest.
These and other features and advantages of the present invention will be presented in more detail in the following detailed description and the accompanying figures, which illustrate by way of example the principles of the invention.